1948 – Truman Elected The USSR joins the “Nuclear Club” August 1949.

1948 – Truman Elected

The USSR joins the “Nuclear

Club”

August 1949

ARMS RACE

1st Hydrogen Bomb (H-bomb)

“ ”1952

Tested on coral island (Bikini Atoll) in Pacific

Mike fireball seconds after detonation

1/2 hour after test...

60 mls45,000 ft.

Election 1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President

March ‘53: Stalin dies

Nikita Khrushchev

becomes next Soviet

leader

Focus on air power & nukes instead of

costly ground troops & navies

A smaller army & navy required new way of fighting communism

Ike consults with John

Foster Dulles

Sec of State

Dulles proposes

policy of...

If Soviets launch nuke at any nation the US would respond with one at them!

Idea: Make Soviets think

twice

This leads the 2 superpowers to...

Push enemy to brink of war

Not backing down from a conflict

Nukes or nothing!

1953: Soviets create H-Bomb

No US advantage!

Remember me?

Robert J. Oppenheimer

Here is my

analogy of the

situation

Mutually Assured

Destruction

Country has enough bombs to insure that

she can destroy enemy

even if they have more

bombs!

Game Game OverOver

There is NO winner…There is NO winner…everyone loses!everyone loses!

Do you realize the impact of

this?

We wage peace the same way we wage war...

show strength...take risks...make enemy think you will attack

H-bomb nicknamed Bravo detonated by U.S. in South Pacific

March 1, 1954

Bikini Atoll (again) contaminated with

radiation

Bravo explosion

Bravo hydrogen bomb crater now

Japanese fishing boat 80

miles away covered in radioactive

ash (fallout)

Also, all fishermen got radiation poisoning!

People realized they could be

harmed by nukes (& TESTS) even from far away

Fallout shelters in the backyard?

Many public buildings became

designated fallout

shelters

Ike’s “open skies” ideaBoth nations would inspect each other’s military sites from airPlan died but at least

they were talking

1954

Sputnik: ‘57

Americans freaked (arms race = higher gear)

Small satellite

launched by USSR

Why did Sputnik cause such a panic?

1- Showed Soviets were ahead in the arms race

2-Soviets smarter than us?

3-If they can launch

this…?

What did we do about it?

US launched new education

initiative stressing math

& science

Federal $$$ went to education in hopes we would train our kids & keep up with

Soviets

ICBM: Inter-

Continental Ballistic Missile

50’s: BOTH SIDES MAKE: